Topics - FFMaster

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. IF YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE ANYTHING SUCH AS TESTING THE INFORMATION IT WILL BE APPRECIATED.

The goal of this project is to deconstruct the data table at 0x676a8, which is the entire backbone of BATTLE.BIN. Knowing which routines are loaded will improve speed and knowledge of hacking, meaning we can do even more wondrous things. FDC believes hacks such as being able to cancel Move commands will be easily achieved if this information is decoded.

These are my own notes that I put together in about 3 hours of breakpointing with Write command only. I only hope it's readable for those who need to understand.

0x960e4 change patterns- this data location seems to be important for some reason. i personally suspect that this number tells which routine to load to make FFT battles function. Things such as music, menus and all that.

CURRENTLY KNOWN LOAD SPOTS-0x79c00(BATTLE.BIN)- This is the area which uses 0x960e4 to set r2 = predetermined location in a data table, which the game then jumps to.The data table starts at 0x676a8

CURRENTLY KNOWN WRITE SPOTS (STARTS AT THE ORI [unless otherwise noted], WHICH IS THE VALUE STORED)NOTES: It is currently unknown why 0x960e4 is loaded and saved as a word, instead of a byte. So far, all write spots have been observed to be single bytes.

0x8c36c - This happened after I accepted a team at Formation. Music had not started yet.ori r2,r0,0x3a

0x71144 - This happened after music started. I believe the map had not been shown yet. Was in mid-rotation of map if i remember correctly. Please test.ori r2,r0,0x27

0x70c44 - Pressed confirm while not highlighting any unit, also happens after completing moveori r2,r0,0x03

0x713d0 - selecting the active unit.ori r2,r0,0x04

0x71478 - every time you select a unit, and there are choices. For example, selecting one of your own non active units, or checking enemy unit status. Number does not change if you go deeper into the menusori r2,r0,0x04

0x715b8 - pressing select to read further information on an action command or status screen. Basically any time while the above is trueori r2,r0,0x06

0x715f8 - Pressing Cancel on a unit to check how far they can move.ori r2,r0,0x07

0x71678 - Pressing Triangle to bring up the AT, Unit list and Options. Does not change if you go deeper into the menus unless you select a unit in AT list.ori r2,r0,0x08

0x716ec - pressing select while in the AT, Unit list and Options. Pressing Select while in Unit List does not change number.ori r2,r0,0x09

0x71738 - Selecting a unit in the AT list.ori r2,r0,0x0a

0x717e0 - Pressed "Move" Commandori r2,r0,0x0c

0x718f4 - Pressed Circle to remove the reminder on how to move a unit, also after removing "Select within movable range" boxori r2,r0,0x0d

For Elric's patch, if we want the video transition from the Holy Stone video to the title screen to be smooth, we need to clean out the part that says "THE WAR OF THE LIONS". Unfortunately, we will need to do this frame by frame. The entire transition is about 40ish frames, but I believe only the last 24 frames need to be edited.

Here are 3 sample frames, taken from the beginning, middle and end of the transition:

If you are willing to take up this daunting task, please download the attachment below and give it a crack. Please leave the images in BMP format. Message me or Elric if you have any questions.

Just 1 video replaced, the one after the Square Enix logo. The video quality isn't great, and lags a bit. If someone can get a good recording of it for me to use, that would be great. However, if you like seeing the pretty tree thingies and clouds and stuff, as well as picture frames, this version of FFT: C is just for you!

Nothing else has been changed.

EDIT: Managed to make one that didn't lag and has much better quality.

DisclaimerThis method is very messy, requires a fair bit of hard drive space, and is still currently being tested by me. Also requires use of cmd, so please be familiar with it. I will help people on IRC/this thread, but don't exoect a reply immediately. Most of the info is inside their manual, but can be annoying to understand.

The bolded line is where your commands go. Also please note that there is no </xml> at the end, if you put it in, you WILL get fatal errors. The commands look like this:

<replace frame="10">newframe10.bmp</replace>

This means you are replacing frame 10 with newframe10.bmp. That's right. You must replace each frame separately. In the fmv after the Square logo, the full video is 1011 frames, so you will have to 1011 of those commands. It's up to you how you want to create that xml. I used Excel and created it within 3 mins.

Step 3) Now, we should run this thing. Open cmd and go to the folder where jpsxdec is located. Type this in:

java -jar jpsxdec.jar -f FINALFANTASYTACTICS.IMG -x index

You can replace FINALFANTASYTACTICS.IMG with your iso file name. I'm just using the default name for simplicity. I'm not 100% sure what files are accepted, but they should all work. After this command, a file called index should be created in the folder.

Step 4) Open jpsxdec.exe and then click on open index. Choose your newly created index file. Look for the video you want to replace and find the index. Note that it shouldn't be the index of the .str, but the one inside it. For example, mine was 2593. I will be using this number from now on.

Step 5) Back in cmd, type:

java -jar jpsxdec.jar -x index -i 2593 -play

If it works, then you should be able to play the movie, and therefore your index number was correct. This is more to check if everything is correct.

Step 6) Type this:

java -jar jpsxdec.jar -x index -i 2593 -replaceframes video.xml

video.xml is just a placeholder, rename it to what the file name of your xml is. BEWARE THAT THIS PROGRAM WILL REPLACE YOUR FRAMES AUTOMATICALLY WITHOUT WARNING MAKE A BACKUP. If it's working, it should spit our a billion numbers. Just wait until it's done. For me, it took less than a minute to replace the entire FFT opening sequence of 1000 frames.

Step 7) Test the video! TESTING IS IMPORTANT

And that's it. Once again, any problems should be said here, so I can work out what is wrong.

This program says it can also turn midis into music for FFT, but it says it's buggy, so I haven't tried it yet.

In about a week, I'll start work on very 139. Compile a list of changes and bug fixes since I haven't been able to keep up to date. Scholar changes will not be needed. They are getting replaced by Druids and will have different stats and skills

I know everyone has different ideas currently on things like spellguns and Oil, but let's try to work together

I want a title banner for FFT Arena title screen. The image below is extracted from the Arena ISO. Title does not need to be magnificent, but the best I can do is use Comic Sans or something and write "FFT ARENA" which is why this request exists.

The image is 320x240, but I can give an upsized version of the background to work with if needed. If a better background is possible, that would be appreciated.

Submission rules:1) Pretty obvious, use .png format or some other lossless format(NOT JPG). Pretty sure it doesn't even need to be stated.2) The submission doesn't need to be smaller than 320x240. In fact, I would like it if you gave multiple sizes. I can use them for the Master Guide and other things. Even if you only submit one size, I can upsize/downsize as needed.3) Please use a transparent background.

NOTE: This title banner is not high priority, so even if you volunteer, I don't expect something to be done super quickly. Arena can survive without a decent title page I think =p

Here is an update to an old map I used to work on. Unfortunately, the newest version I found was a WIP of 7.3-7.4ish, so the features from 7.4 aren't implemented, such as new pokemon. However, I think it's worth losing those features temporarily for being able to use 6 Pokemon. If anyone wants to add/readd any features, I can do them given free time.

But for now, here is Pokemon World 8.0! Once you try out the new Pokemon Sending System, you will definitely love it over the old one. Trust me on this.

Right now, there is a little issue with weather I think. Basically, Rain > Fire, Thunderstom + Lightning spells = strong and night time screws Archers. Snow is restricted to a few maps, and isn't as big an impact.

Should we remove the effects of weather and day/night completely? I personally see it as a random event which should be removed for balance. Fire gets bent over due to weather, while the other 2 will only receive benefits. It's why people only used Bolt 1/2/3 in a normal run after all.

If so, how do we remove it? I can't find it with my poor skills in ASM. I can slap on Any Weather for all units at worst, but that doesn't stop night time accuracy reduction for ranged attacks.

Since I haven't been able to watch any matches for a while, that puts me completely out for having the final say for balance. Instead, I think the best method is for everyone to input what needs to be changed and work from there.

My only input would be to add a faith constant to both caster and target(s). The problem has been around since forever. The alternative would have team faith minimum. It's up in the air.

EDIT: I'm leaving this open until 8/11, which is when my exams are done, or 2 weeks.

All I've done is raise the edges around the water by 1 height (+12 in Ganesha), shrunk the water by the same amount, and messed with the terrain editor to make the water 1h instead of 2. Did I miss something?

For the upcoming version 131, I want to see if people disagree with the direction this patch is going. I know a few changes have been gladly welcomed, while others have been met with a lot of hate. Plenty of people have discussed about different balancing concepts, and it all gets muddled up. So here is a place to tell me exactly what you want. I have a list of questions you can answer. If there are too many questions for you, then just answer as many as you want. So here goes:

1) Overall, what do you think of the general direction of balance? Would you change/add/remove any core mechanics in Arena?

2) What do you think of the number of equipment options available? Are there too many or too little?

3) What do you think of the number of skills available? Are there too many or too little?

4) List the classes/skillsets which you think are too powerful/weak, explain why and what you would do to remedy the situation.

5) List the equipment which you think are too powerful/weak, explain why and what you would do to remedy the situation.